


What's in a Name?

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-17
Updated: 2005-02-17
Packaged: 2019-05-15 19:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14796884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: What's in a name? Maybe nothing, and sometimeseverything.





	What's in a Name?

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title.

Romeo and Juliet. Act ii. Sc. 2. 1

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

After all this time she can’t get over how much he says when he says so little.

Such a small thing her name, only two letters, two syllables nothing more nothing less. But he makes it so much more without even trying.

She’s heard him whisper it into her hair like a secret; speak it like a benediction or a prayer. Heard him call it with the sound of desperation, colour it with pain he cannot show or love he cannot hide. Sometimes it’s a summoning, sometimes a reassurance she’s still there, or a comfort that he is there for her.

He can say it in ways that say more than speeches ever could; that he loves her, that he finds her beautiful, that he can’t believe they’re together. He can say it with a sense of wonder, of joy, of satisfaction.

No matter if it’s spoken over the distance connected by only a telephone, or called out in the intimate darkness of the bedroom connected by more than just words.

She feels that he could whisper her name in the middle of a crowded room and she would know it. Hear) him over all else; all the noise and chatter that surround them.

She lies beside him as he sleeps and watches his face, relaxed and somehow innocent. She can lay here for hours watching him dream, and she’s lost count now of the times she’s woken to find him watching her, a soft smile on his face and in his blue, blue eyes.

He snuggles closer, his arm, which is wrapped around her waist, tightens slightly. He’s dreaming now and she can see his eyes move beneath his eyelids following the pictures in his mind’s eye. He smiles that beautiful, heartbreaking smile and breathes one word into the darkness.

"C.J"

She knows he’s asleep and can't hear her, but she answers anyway trying to express everything in one word as he does.

"Sam".


End file.
